18 month old stopped going to sleep!!

[fonzerella]

Please help! Am sitting here in tears after another night of dd refusing to go to sleep. Husband now taken her for drive in car. Until recently she's always gone to sleep on the bottle between 7.00pm and 7.30pm. Now fighting all the way and for past fortnight its been between 9 and 10pm! Know its my fault for not teaching her to fall asleep by herself, but am now worried its to late! Tried leaving her to cry... only managed 5 minutes as she was so hysterical. Any advice?

I would ditch the bottle and set up some new routine - a comforter and cuddling with you, then comforter in the cot you next to her etc.

Is she still having daytime naps? If so how long and at what time?

Varies between 45 mins and two hours! Slept for an hour and a half today in the pram, waking at 2.00pm. Tried lying next to her on bed after bottle, but she justs wants to play.

How do you get her to sleep at lunch time?

No real advice but DS was a dream - would be put in his cot totally awake and settle himself, but the last few months his naps have been gettnig later and so has his bedtime, along with not wanting to stay in the cot even when he is really tired. I have to now put him to bed asleep, whenever he falls asleep but have managed (by helping him drop his daytime nap) to get his bedtime back to about 7pm most days. I wouldn't worry that you have caused it by not making her fall asleep on her own.

At lunch time i'm embarrassed to say she's usually in the pram or car! Rocked her to sleep until she got too big! She's in nursery 3 days a week and they just pat her bottom and she falls asleep apparently. Doesn't work for me!

I guess you have to stick with patting her on the bottom and accept she is not going to be happy about it for a while. Has she been harder to get to sleep on the nursery days (do they let her sleep too long) or easier to get to sleep because she is shattered?

I would start making all her naps in her cot at home. It will be tough and you need your dh on side to help - it will in part be a battle of wills.

I guess you have to stick with patting her on the bottom and accept she is not going to be happy about it for a while. Has she been harder to get to sleep on the nursery days (do they let her sleep too long) or easier to get to sleep because she is shattered?

I would start making all her naps in her cot at home. It will be tough and you need your dh on side to help - it will in part be a battle of wills.

Its just so hard because she's so old. She really battles... thrashing, hitting sitting and even resorted to biting tonight. Just kept on shouting 'stairs' at top of voice as she wanted to be taken back down!She usually really calm and placid so its a real shock to the system.

Yes it is going to be hard but I really don't have any other ideas. Sit with her in the dark so she knows she's not being abandoned.

i had similar problems with ds2 he would go to sleep but would wake 2 or 3 times a night and not go back to sleep after waking a 0130-0230, so i took him out of his cot and put him in one of those ikea extender beds, he's been an angel ever since, in to week 3 now.

Just sit next to her and keep settling her down again every 5 mins - but no chatting (or shouting ).

It's a battle of wills - she's decided she wants to stay up. You don't want her to. This is the first of many battles coming your way as she approaches 2.

Even if she could settle herself she might still have decided she's rather stay up with you and DH so don't beat yourself up about it!

Good luck for tomorrow night.

Hi

We just had to change our 19 month's bedtime routine. We're still not 100% successful but it is getting better. We were a bit shocked and unprepared because he was always a great sleeper and from one day to the next he changed the rules :-)

We now have incorporated a story, lots of singing which eventually becomes barely audible humming and he drops off. Start to finish is 30 mins or thereabouts.

The nighttime is still a horror because he wakes any time between 11 and 2 then won't go back to sleep so, because DH and I are both working, we took the easy way out and took him into bed with us. 7 weeks on we are still doing this.

Now we are stuck for ideas to get him either to a) stay asleep all night or b) go back to his own bed!